Described as a "masterpiece" by Sean Penn, and "a poem" by Neil Marshall, Alejandro González Iñárritu‘s gritty "The Revenant" certainly has its share of admirers. And while the director himself has said he’s unlikely to put himself through such an ordeal again (the production was "a living hell" by some accounts) the director is not only proud of his film, but believes it deserves to be seen in the best theaters that cinema has to offer.
“This film deserves to be watched in a temple,” he told Financial Times. And who can argue that Emmanuel Lubezki‘s breathtaking cinematography doesn’t deserve the best viewing possible?
And while Iñárritu welcomes all comments about his film, just don’t call "The Revenant" a western. “I don’t consider [my] film a Western,” he explained. “Western is in a way a genre, and the problem with genres is that it comes from the word ‘generic’, and I feel that this film is very far from generic.”
I’m not a linguist, but I’m fairly certain Iñárritu’s take on the word "genre" isn’t quite correct. However, the larger point is that he probably doesn’t want his film boxed into any preconceived notions. Meanwhile, Tom Hardy is dispelling a rumor that he punched his director while on set of the movie.
"If you hit somebody, you’d know about it. That didn’t happen. That’s just nonsense," he told Variety. So there you go.
"The Revenant" opens wide this Friday.